SEOUL, South Korea — For years, Kim Cho- Gang kept her oddball art collection out of sight, hidden away in a basement.
She admits hers is a rather unusual assemblage: wood carvings, paintings, puppets and embroidery — all celebrating the lowly chicken. There are roosters and hens big and small, birds depicted clucking, scratching and crowing.
Since 2006, these works have had a public place to roost. Setting aside her lifelong dream of opening a child-care center, the 70-year-old former public health professor runs the Seoul Museum of Chicken Art, a private facility containing all things fowl.
Kim is crazy about chickens, including their looks and their historical and cultural significance in countries across the world.
“I do not buy luxuries. I don’t buy cosmetics. I am only indulged in chickens,” Kim said.
In 2000, the South Korean government passed a law that opened the door to for-profit private museums of all kinds. There’s a museum dedicated to kimchi, one of Korea’s national dishes. There’s a dumpling museum, a sex museum and showcases for rocks, masks, owls and traditional knots.
Kim’s gallery shows that the chicken has been an emblem of luck, fertility and wealth across cultures. The rooster was once within a whisker of being selected as the national bird of the United States, Kim said.
